Austen Smith

Biography:

Austen Smith had only been shooting six years and did not expect to make it to Tokyo given the depth and years of experience on the United States Women’s Skeet Team, many of who she’s looked up to throughout her shooting career.

At just 18 years old when she made her first Olympic Team in March 2020; Austen is the youngest member of the USA Shooting Olympic Team this cycle. She was competing on the junior circuit just a year prior.

Austen won a Junior World Championship silver medal in 2017 and bronze medal in 2018, which she rounded out with a junior individual World Cup gold medal and junior mixed team gold medal in 2019. In 2021 Austen made headlines with her gold medal performance at World Cup Lonato as the youngest of six competitors in the finals. She beat out Great Britain’s Amber Hill by three targets to claim her first open World Cup medal.

She graduated high school shortly after making the Olympic Team and enrolled in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas, Arlington. She says it gives her another challenge and another thing to focus on when she is unable to shoot due to COVID-19 restrictions and the postponement of the Games.

Austen is coached by four-time Olympic Champion, Vincent Hancock. She made her Olympic debut in Tokyo and earned her first Olympic medals at the Paris 2024 Games. Her first medal was a bronze in Women's Skeet. She teamed up with Vincent Hancock to earn a silver medal in Mixed Skeet Team doubling her haul.